MIT SEMESTER I JAPAN: DEN JAPANSKE VINTER (3)

Det er blevet tid til endnu et oplæg om mit udvekslingssemester i Japan, som jeg for et år siden påbegyndte. I dag skal det handle om opholdet under den japanske vinter, som viste sig at være mere hård og kold, end jeg havde regnet med. Flere af de japanske studerende sagde dog, at den var koldere end andre vintre. Også vinteren var en dejlig tid på trods af, at jeg var syg en del, men sådan er det nu en gang, når man har en lidt sart hals. I løbet af vinteren fik jeg både besøg af min søster og min kæreste, og det var dejligt at have nogle at dele min Japan-oplevelse med, selvom mit værelse var rimelig lille til to personer.

Lige så snart Halloween var overstået, blev Halloween-pynten taget ned i butikkerne, og julepynten kom op. Japan er fantastisk til glimmer og glitter til jul, og det var umuligt ikke at komme i julestemning. I november gik tiden mest af alt med at forberede specialet (skrive på opgaven, researche, læse, finde materiale, lave spørgeskema osv.), men jeg fik da tid til et par lørdage med bjergvandring og onsen inden jeg fik besøg af min søster i starten af december.

Jeg hentede min søster en aften i Ōsakas internationale lufthavn, og det var rigtig dejligt at se hende igen. Hun havde taget danske julekalendre og juleslik med til Japan, så det blev næsten en normal december for mig. I hverdagene skulle jeg naturligvis på uni for at komme til undervisning, og min søster tog tit med derhen, men i weekenderne tog vi på tur rundt i Kansai-området. Vi nåede både at tage et par ture til Ōsaka, komme ind og se Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, tage til Himeji, Nara, Kyōto, Universal Studios, se Luminaire, skrive nytårskort på uni og komme med til en end-of-year fest med Okinawa tema. Vi havde ret højt tempo på, og både min søster og jeg blev syge i december. Jeg blev desværre først syg den dag vi tog hjem sammen til Danmark på juleferie, hvilket resulterede i, at jeg var syg resten af året og indtil midten af januar.

Da jeg tog hjem til Japan efter en uge i Danmark sammen med min kæreste, var jeg stadig meget syg. Flyveturen hjem var fuldstændig forfærdelig (specielt fordi at vi måtte vente 6 ekstra timer i Istanbul lufthavn pga. stormvejr), og jeg var så syg, at jeg ingen kræfter havde tilbage i min krop til at hoste. Da Frederik og jeg samme dag som landingen fejrede nytår sammen på mit lille værelse med fugu og andet godt japansk nytårsmad, friede han til mig, og jeg nød aftenen så godt som jeg kunne. De næste par dage  besøgte vi templer, spiste festivalmad i boder og hyggede os egentlig bare i Kōbe. Mens han var på besøg i januar skulle jeg også på universitetet, og han gik for det meste med tidligt om morgenen, fordi jeg var bange for, at viceværten skulle opdage, at jeg havde en overnattende gæst (hvilket man faktisk ikke måtte have). Vi havde mange gode oplevelser og ture sammen til Ōsaka, hvor vi shoppede, gik på Gudetama café, spiste Kōbe kød, var på hunde café og tog ud at skøjte. Det var vildt sjovt at være ude at skøjte lige indtil at jeg faldt og brækkede min arm, som måtte i gibs. Jeg formåede også at få influenza de sidste to uger, hvor Frederik var der, så januar var en spændende måned.

I februar blomstrede de smukke blomme (ume) træer, og det var dejligt at opleve dem, inden Michelle og jeg skulle mod Danmark igen. Michelle og jeg fejrede også setsubun, som er en festival, hvor man basically fejrer foråret. Vi havde også en skøn valentinsdag sammen med vores venner Basia og Alberto, hvor vi var oppe i pariserhjulet ved Kōbe Harborland, og disse begivenheder afsluttede vinteren i Japan rigtig godt.

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It’s time for another post about my exchange semester in Japan, which began a year ago. Today’s post is about my stay during the Japanese winter, which turned out to me more rough and cold that expected. Several Japanese students also told me that it was colder than usual. But despite a lot of sickness the winter in Japan was very enjoyable. That’s how it is to have a weak throat. During the winter I was both visited by my sister and my boyfriend and it was lovely to share my Japan experience with them, even though my room was a bit too small for two people.

As soon as Halloween was over, the Halloween decorations were taken down in the stores and the Christmas decoration were up. Japan is amazing with glitter and lighting for Christmas, and it was impossible not to feel all Christmassy. In November most of the time was spent preparing my thesis (write, research, read, find material, make questions and so on), but I did find time a couple of Saturdays for some hiking and onsen before the visit by my sister in the beginning of December.

I picked up my sister a night at Ōsaka’s international airport, and it was lovely to see her again. She had brought me Danish Christmas calendars and Christmas candy to Japan so it was almost like a normal December for me. During the weekdays I naturally had to go to uni for classes, and my sister often went with me, but during the weekends we went on trip around Kansai. We went to Ōsaka a couple of times, watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, went to Himeji, Nara, Kyōto, Universal Studios, watch the Luminaire show, wrote New Year cards at uni and went to an Okinawa themed end-of-the-year party. We did quite and lot and eventually both my sister and I became ill. Unfortunately I didn’t get sick until the day that we left for Denmark for Christmas which resulted in my being sick the rest of the year until the middle of January.

When I went home to Japan after a week in Denmark with my boyfriend I was still sicks. The flight home was absolutely horrible (especially because we had to wait an extra 6 hours at Istanbul Airport because of a storm), and I was so sick that I had no energy left in my body to do anything, not even coughing. When Frederik and I the same day we landed celebrated New Year’s eve in my tiny room with fugu and other delicious Japanese New Year foods, he proposed to me and I enjoyed the evening as much as possible. The next couple of days we visited temples, ate festival food and just had a good time in Kōbe. During his visit I had to go to university and he usually went with me early in the morning, because I was afraid that the landlord would find out that I had a guest (which we were not allowed). We had lots of great trips together as we went to Ōsaka where we shopped, visited the Gudetama café, went to do café and ice skating and had Kōbe beef in Kōbe. It was so much fun to go ice skating right until I broke my arm. I also managed to get influenza the last two weeks that Frederik was there, so yeah January was an interesting month.

In February the beautiful plum (ume) tree were starting to bloom and it was lovely to experience them before Michelle and I headed back to Denmark. Michelle and I also celebrated setsubun, a festival where the start of spring is basically celebrated. We also had a lovely Valentine’s Day with our friends Basia and Alberto, where we went to the ferris wheel of Kōbe Harborland, and these events made winter very nice for us.